Whilst I would not call myself pure Paleo, I follow the principle that one of the best things we can do for our body is to give it as much natural nutrition as we can. After doing the 30 day challenge that Joe sempai discussed, I experimented and found that small amounts of rice and yoghurt work for me, but generally avoid pasta, breads (except the occasional wrap), pastries and most dairy.

One of my favourite Paleo “snacks” is beef jerky. But you have to be careful to look at the ingredients (salt), so following the inspiration of Angelo Coppola from the Humans are Not Broken blog and the associated Latest in Paleo podcast, I started making my own jerky. I purchased a food dehydrator, and started out with Angelo’s beef jerky recipe. I modified this to suit locally available ingredients and my own taste (which may be spicier than most).

As a couple of people have asked, I thought I’d post my current beef jerky recipe. Enjoy, and I’d love feedback.

Ingredients:

Directions:

Slice the meat to about 5mm thickness, or to medium thickness on a mandolin. Freezing for 1–1.5 hours beforehand makes slicing easier. Put meat aside in a glass container.

Mix other ingredients (except shichimi) in a microwave safe container, and microwave for 1 minute. Pour the mixture over the meat, ensuring that you coat all the pieces of the meat. (Can shake it if in a glass snap ware type container).

Refrigerate overnight. After removing, place meat in a colander, and rinse with warm water.

Lay meat on dehydrator trays, ensuring that pieces don’t overlap. As you finish each tray, sprinkle some shichimi flakes over the pieces. Dehydrate on high for around 4 hours.

Jerky is done when the outside cracks when you bend it. Let it cool to room temperature. Put in an airtight container on paper towel, and refrigerate.